One of These Days
by AmericanBaby
Summary: Derek and the new girl become friends, Casey gets… Casey gets jealous? Jealous or something along those lines. This story is a bit AU, Casey may be a bit OOC. Pairings: DerekOC, CaseySam, possible SamEmily


One of These Days

**Summary:** Derek and the new girl become friends, Casey gets… Casey gets jealous? Jealous- or something along those lines. This story is a bit AU, don't get mad, it's fiction so it can be what I want it to! Casey may be a bit OOC, just to let you know!

**Pairings:** Derek/OC, Casey/Sam, possible Sam/Emily

**Rating:** M (mature) because I already know this fic will deal with "adult themes". Nothing too bad, but if you don't like pre-marital sex or teenage drinking then don't read!

**Disclaimer:** Life With Derek doesn't belong to me, as much as I wish it did. Then I could have Michael Seater all to myself ) Plus, if LWD was mine, it wouldn't be a part of the Disney Channel, it would be more for teenagers than pre-teens.

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Chapter 1: What is Your Secret?

Casey McDonald couldn't believe it. How could this be happening? Derek and her did not mix; not at home, not at school, and especially not in class. How could the school do this? Derek and Casey in the same class… it was just not possible.

Yet, at the same time, it was so possible. Casey and Derek had to take Writing and Composition, the school required it. And lucky for Casey, it happened to be Derek's only honors class. Casey wasn't even supposed to be in the honors class! She had been recommended for advanced placement, yet advanced placement didn't fit in her schedule… none of the five advanced placement Writing and Composition classes fit into her schedule. Out of the five honors classes the school offered, period one Writing and Comp was the only one that fit into Casey's schedule.

She had first seen Derek walk into her classroom when she was talking to Emily across the hallway at her locker. There was still five minutes before the bell rang and Casey figured Derek had the wrong room. It was a new semester and early in the morning, Derek just walked into the wrong room, right? Of course not- when she walked into the room after the bell rang he was sitting right in the back row. Derek was seated right next to the only seat available. She looked at her schedule, checking that she had the right room. And double checked it when she saw that the board read "Miss Sullivan" even though she knew her schedule read the same thing.

Casey sighed taking the seat next to Derek rolling her eyes and she saw him smile and turn towards her, out of the corner of her eye.

"Well hello there, Casey. I had no idea we had any classes together! We're going to have sooo much fun together… don't you think we're going to have fun together?" the words had barely rolled of his tongue before she started her comeback.

"Derek, the only reason I'm sitting here is because this is the only seat left. I'm here to learn and if I hear one stupid, sarcastic comment from you you're going to be dead. I'm here to learn, not for you to give me a headache." Derek must not have been ready for such a forceful comment because he turned back around to talk to the kid sitting next to him. And without anything said in return, Casey was so disappointed. She smiled to herself thinking that she probably wouldn't hear anything from Derek for the rest of the class.

"Okay everyone sit down and shut-up! The morning announcements will be on in about five seconds and I better be able to hear them!" shouted a young woman with blonde hair. Casey assumed the woman to be Miss Sullivan and knew right away they would get along. The class quieted down as the principal came on the loudspeaker to welcome students back from the winter vacation.

As soon as the announcements were finished, Miss Sullivan began handing out a syllabus to everyone in the class. Casey immediately wrote the date on it and began to read the sheet; she noticed Derek didn't even bother pretending to look at it. As soon as Miss Sullivan had made her way around the room, she stood at her desk and took out a grade book. "When I say your name, just say 'hi' or 'here' we have a lot to cover today. You can joke around later, I don't want to hear it now."

As soon as the class was quiet, she began. "Brendan Abney...Lauren Andrew…Chris Astor…Katie Blafour…" Casey could see this would take a while to get to her name because the class was pretty large. She started looking around the class and made a face when her eyes landed on Derek. He was concentrating so hard that he didn't even notice to make a face back. She looked in front of him, to the left a little bit to figure out what he was staring at.

She figured it would be a girl, but this was a girl Casey had never seen before. The girl had long, light brown colored hair that reached to the middle of her back. Casey saw that when the girl turned her head and pushed her hair to the side, the color underneath was a really dark brown, almost black, very similar to Casey's own color. Casey was examining the new girl's clothes when Miss Sullivan called out "Grace Logan?" and the girl responded. Casey noticed that they were wearing the same jeans skirt when she heard, "Casey McDonald?" Casey replied as she thought that maybe she and this new girl would get along well… as long as Grace Logan had the same taste in boys as she did in clothes.

Finally, when Miss Sullivan is finished taking attendance the class gets louder while she signs the sheet. "Everyone quiet! Okay, thank you. Now I'll announce our first paper. Oh, come on… it's easy, stop with the sad sighs. This will be fun, I promise! We're going to write about our class mates!" This just warranted more sighs around Casey, she laughed a little as Miss Sullivan glared around. Once people started to quiet down, she spoke again. "There's 31 people in the class, so there will have to be a group of three. I'll pass out the rubrics to get you started. As I go I'll partner you up."

As Miss Sullivan went up and down the rows of seats she paired up the people sitting next to each other. Casey counted to see who she would be paired with, and sadly she was the fifth row, Derek was the sixth. She could absolutely **not** be paired with Derek Venturi. She knew everything she needed to know about him, and that was that he was annoying.

When Miss Sullivan got to Casey and Derek, Casey blurted out, "Miss Sullivan, I absolutely cannot be paired with Derek. He's my step-brother. We already know each other…"

"Casey, it's alright. Since you are the last group to be picked, you'll have to be the group of three. You two can be in a group with Grace." And before Casey or Derek could think of another thing to say Miss Sullivan turned away and Grace turned towards them smiling nervously.

Taking one look at Derek and Casey the smile slowly disappeared. Casey knew that if Derek's face looked anything like her own, Grace's smile disappeared because she knew this project was going to be harder than it had sounded. "I think we should read the rubric before we do anything else," Grace suggested, and then biting the corner of her lip she looked down and began to read. Casey slowly pulled out her ipod and pressed play as she began to read.

Casey's new Nada Surf album played, the bright blue album picture just made her mood more sour. _What is Your Secret?_ began to play. Casey listened to the lyrics and thought about the project.

_So we sat and talked  
Then we walked and talked but  
Thought it was the truth  
What is your secret?  
Dragged it on and on  
Even favorite songs but  
Your division's wrong  
What is your secret?  
I don't care about you anymore_

She couldn't bear to hear the rest of the song… She knew she, Grace, and Derek were going to be doing a lot of talking during this class and just from the first two lines of the song, she didn't want their stories to end up like the sad ending of the song where the . As much as she would never admit it, she did care about Derek and she hated seeing him drool over girls. And that was exactly what this class was going to be about…

Was that her secret? That she got jealous of the girls Derek liked? 'It can't be,' thought Casey. 'I don't like Derek. I can't stand Derek. He's just my annoying step-brother.' She couldn't like Derek, she didn't want to be cast away like the actress in the song.

_I don't think about you  
I try not to think about you  
I don't care about you anymore  
The people got tired  
Our movie's dont play much anymore  
The actress was fired_

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End of Chapter 1! Sorry if it's a bit hard to understand. I think I'm probably going to need a beta, maybe I'll get my sister to do it. But if anyone else wants to, I would totally appreciate it! Tell me what you think about the story, if I should continue and everything. Incase you couldn't tell, the chapter is named after _What is Your Secret_ by Nada Surf (great band… check them out!) The lyrics are from the song, too. And incase you were wondering, the story is named after _One of These Days_ by Michelle Branch. The next chapter will probably be up by tomorrow or Monday night!

-Niki


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